1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention generally relates to Storage Area Networks (SANs). More specifically, the present invention provides techniques and mechanisms for selecting a virtualization engine in a SAN.
2. Description of Related Art
Virtualization is an abstraction that allows efficient use of resources in a manner transparent to a user. In many storage area networks, virtualization is provided at a host or at a target connected to a storage area network. For endpoint virtualization, a target device may include multiple physical disks that allow data written to the target device to be mirrored and striped across disks in a manner transparent to the host and the user. A host writes data to a disk array and the disk array is responsible for managing redundancy features in a manner transparent to the host. In another example, hosts may be responsible for implementing virtualization. Instead of having an end device perform the redundancy operations, a host can elect to mirror and stripe data across a variety of storage devices in a storage area network in a manner transparent to target devices and the user.
With the emergence of intelligent storage area networks, virtualization is being moved to the network. In some examples, fibre channel switches in a storage area network perform functions associated mirroring and striping in a manner transparent to the hosts and end devices. However, mechanisms for efficiently and effectively configuring virtualization mechanisms are limited in storage area networks. It is often difficult to efficiently select a virtualization engines in a storage area network.
It is therefore desirable to provide methods and apparatus for efficiently selecting virtualization engines in a storage area network using virtualization.